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Jose
Manuel Anes |
THE
top criminologist in Portugal has slammed the
investigation into the disappearance of Madeleine
McCann.
Jose Manuel Anes
said the methods used by police were flawed and
out-dated.
He added: ?Errors
were made, not just by the Judicial Police, but by a
whole group of people who took part in the
investigations.?
Mr Anes, former
head of criminology at Portuguese police's science
lab, attacked the decision to make Maddie's parents
Gerry and Kate ?arguidos, or suspects.
He said it was
based on flawed evidence.
Mr Anes, 64,
added: ?There's no knowing in what condition samples
arrived at the laboratory.
?You find or you
don't find. You can't invent! Also there's a
fundamental principle that it's better to have a
criminal free than an innocent in chains. That?s the
slogan of our profession.?
Mr Anes also
defended British police, arguing their offer of help
was no impediment to Portuguese cops.
He said: ?The
English police even offered dogs. If they didn't
want to find anything, they wouldn't have lent
dogs.?
Mr Anes admitted
the case has been an embarrassment to his country
and that police did not handle the pressure.
Maddie vanished
from a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz days before
her fourth birthday in May 2007.
Her parents, of
Rothley, Leics, were accused over the disappearance,
but the case was dropped.
g.rollings@the-sun.co.u
